7.25.2012

Poet/musician Jason Chu recently dropped this spoken word video, "Colorblind," as a reponse to the recent casting controversy over the La Jolla Playhouse production of The Nightingale. He's frustrated, but also encouraged by the frank dialogue it has inspired within the Asian American community. Take a look:

Nicely done. The words:

I hear "nothing's more American than immigrating in
"Working hard is more important than the color of your skin"
But if that's true, why are the faces that look like me
Always involved in takeout, kung fu, or exotic villainy?
I mean, we wear the same clothes and we do the same things
And we talk the same way - but it was never a real dream
For me to be Friends with Rachel, Joey, or Ross
And "Jason Chu" was not the answer to the question, "Who's the Boss?"
Even on Cheers, where everybody was supposed to know my name
I never heard a Chu, Nguyen, Kim, Loke, or Chang
So I concluded that Asian faces are only right
If we're talking about rice, or a high-tech device
I mean, I just saw the Dark Knight Rise
And I cheered every time that I saw an Asian face - twice
This is why we don't win: the systems that we're in
If we build separate communities, we're viewed as aliens
But if we try to play along, we have no hope of blending in
They'll never let John Wayne be played by John Kim
But The Airbender was Noah Ringer, and Goku was Justin Chatwin
And the whole cast of Akira was gonna be played by white men
But I have never seen a role with a European name
Be filled by an Asian with the excuse "we cast for talent, not for race"
So the La Jolla playhouse can say anything they want
In the end, I don't see action, so I conclude it's just a front
For the same attitude that I've always seen out there
Because "color-blind" is just a nicer way to say "we don't care"